In difficult times, it’s always good to lean on traditional values.

Some would argue that the United States is at its core an English-speaking child of Western Europe. OK, fair enough. If you are searching for the roots of that heritage, look no further than Arthur. We all know him well: unifying king, chivalrous knight, defender of the faith, protector of the people. But we should never forget the dark moral of his tale. Arthur was conceived in sin, betrayed by his best friend and his wife, and in his despair was tricked into sleeping with his half-sister. The result was a monster, Arthur’s son/half-nephew Mordred, who turned against his father and plunged England into darkness. There was civil war and bloodshed. But even worse, the land itself rose up in revolt. There were floods, and there was drought. The skies turned black, and crops failed. And – oh yeah – there was a nasty plague.

Interesting, that, and eerily reminiscent of an earlier tale. This one comes down to us from ancient Greece, sometime around 430 BC. The city of Thebes is suffering from the plague, and the king – whose name means “swollen foot” – promises to uncover the source of the misery and destroy it. Unfortunately, his search only leads back to himself, when he discovers his true past. When he was a baby, his parents had bound his feet together and left him for dead; he was saved by a shepherd and raised by the king next door; when he grew up he heard a prophecy that one day he would kill his father, so he left his adoptive home; and unwittingly arrived back at his REAL birthplace and killed his own father, thus fulfilling the prophecy. To make matters worse, he then married his mother. Yeah, it’s THAT guy: Oedipus Rex.

These two foundational myths are essentially the same tale, and they have the same basic resolution. In Arthur’s case, he rides to battle and martyrs himself to destroy Mordred. As for Oedipus, he plucks out his own eyes. Both are gory endings for sure, but in both cases the solution is effective. With the eradication of wickedness, the kingdom recovers.

This is Western Civilization 101. These are our legends. This is what we teach our children.

So, returning to the present, what do we make of our current woes? We have plunged into darkness and despair. Plague. Wildfires. Civil unrest. Century hurricanes. Environmental collapse. What do we make of this?

It’s right in front of us. It’s the truth discovered long ago by Arthur. It’s the secret of the Holy Grail. It was understood by our Founding Fathers, and the ancient Greeks.

What is the moral for our troubled time?

The King and the Land are One.